Beautiful upgrades, but would not repeat for cool climate cruise

Norwegian Dawn Cruise Review to Canada, New England, New York

30something

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 47

Overall rating:

3.2 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night New England & Canada (Boston To Quebec)

Sail date: September 09, 2016

Ship: Norwegian Dawn

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 11619

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

I convinced my husband to try Norwegian after a great experience on the Breakaway. Even with all of the beautiful upgrades, the boat lacks a good flow on the common floors and lacks a lot of interior common space during cool weather. We took a Holland America cruise to Alaska and still felt that we could enjoy the outdoors and scenery while staying warm. Not so on the Dawn. I would recommend HA for a cool-weather cruise.

I also told my husband there would be more young people on Norwegian than on HA; perhaps it was the time of year, but there were only a handful of "30-somethings". We were looking forward to a more vibrant crowd...

The lines were very long and disorganized at ports. Especially Gaspe with a Tender and Disembarkation. Poor communication.

The staff was very friendly with our daughter (age 2) but the kids menu was quite poor: fast food type items (chicken fingers/mac n cheese/pbj/pizza) all served with potato chips and did not change from restaurant to restaurant. No veggie or fruit options whatsoever. I would have given her more of my food, but the wait for each course made this difficult for a little one.

Certainly not the same experience that I had with the Breakaway in 2013...

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Hard to enjoy activities with a toddler that goes to bed at 7 PM! Looking forward to when she will be old enough to go to the children's programs.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5

We reserved the room in Jan/Feb 2016 and requested a pack n play. The agent should have recommended a different room because it was physically impossible to fit the crib in. The ship was completely booked so we had no other option. We ultimately had the cabin steward remove extra furniture and push both the beds against the wall to make room for the crib.

Ship tip

Beautiful ship but at capacity its very cramped. Would not recommend for a cool-weather cruise. Not enough common areas that stay warm.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Boston, Massachusetts

3 out of 5

Portland, Maine

5 out of 5

Halifax, Nova Scotia

3 out of 5

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

3 out of 5

Gaspe, Quebec

3 out of 5

Go with a norwegian excursion because the tender process was awful.

Thumbs Up 3

La Baie, Quebec

5 out of 5

Quebec City, Quebec

3 out of 5

disembarkation process was very slow and disorganized. beautiful town.

Thumbs Up 0

6 Comments

Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise.

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CruiseTX 8 years ago

We did an Alaskan cruise with Princess. I feel Alaskan cruises tend to attract older audiences. I'll also say we were not fans of Princess and feel they cater to an older clientele; that was our impression at least. Alaska will be colder of course. we brought clothes knowing that. Sometimes we just stayed inside. Anyway we did a spring break cruise in 2015 with Royal Caribbean (Navigator of the Seas). Great boat/cruise/cruise line. Wanted to go RC again but no good options for us. So we'll be on the Dawn for spring break 2017 and hoping for the best. We know it's an older ship, bit it is what it is.

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ChristinaZ1 8 years ago

We love the Dawn but always sail off season, we avoid spring breaks, summer, and holidays. We enjoy the calmer older crowd. We were in a suite so we ate at Lacuchina for breakfast and lunch. They were wonderful about bringing the kids requested foods, fruits, and veggies. The Dawn does have an odd layout but once you get it down it isn't a deal breaker for us.

Thumbs Up 2

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DandDatSea 8 years ago

I sailed on the Dawn in July and it was like a frat party. Never again.

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bking51 8 years ago

We have taken NCL Jewel, NCL Epic and NCL Pearl +++Going to take the Dawn in Jan to Western Carb. NCL Island in Belize plus Costa Maya with nice warm Routan. Diving in Cozamul and Belize so nice warm weather. The Pearl was great in Alaska with nice viewing areas. In Buffet their were veggie and in special dining we look at little ones getting lits of good stuff. The staff also was always doing great things. I found lots of places for in warm places to enjoy sun and cool. In cool places good places to view both wrapped up outside view or warm views. Good fish and chip and lots of stuff to eat for every age,. The Jewel trip to Carb there were 500 little ones and they were parting all the time. On the Epic not a lot of little ones but great Adult section. Wow what a white party with lots of 30 group. Dance lessons in with 60 and 30. group in Bliss. Lot of music for all group ages. The Captian party for Latitude was great. All activity team plus Crews directors fab. On the Pearl a act could not go on due to practice injury. The entertainment crew went into action in the afternoon and wow what a show in the evening. The cruise big band and singers put on a Tonie Benet big band experience. We never have down time with all the great excursions and onboard stuff. Took our first NCL Cruise on the retired Southward in 1981. Land base stuff at Riu Resorts and lots more resorts around the world. Hotels for work and trip vacations, Disclaimer: I own NCL stock. NCL owns Regency and Oceanic up market lines. Minority owner owns are Star out of Asia which is Majority owned by Malaysians. Opps worked for Scomi a Malaysian company in oil and gas plus other things last 5 years till retiring.

Thumbs Up 1

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esm54687 8 years ago

Thanks for the review..... very valid points and good food for thought about HAL (Veendam is on my radar)

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Other reviews of this sailing

Great time had by all